


misadventures in night swimming

by LydiaOfNarnia



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 09:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11461134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LydiaOfNarnia/pseuds/LydiaOfNarnia
Summary: Skip is too adventurous for his own good sometimes, and Don doesn't know why he puts up with it. It takes a blunder from Skip to remind him.(written for the Tumblr prompt:"Did I just say that out loud?")





	misadventures in night swimming

**Author's Note:**

> Of course, the characters in this fic are based off of their fictional portrayals from the miniseries Band of Brothers, and I mean no disrespect to the real-life veterans!
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [renelemaires](http://renelemaires.tumblr.com/)!

“We should go swimming.”

“It’s eleven at night,” Don mutters, turning over in bed. “It’s too late for swimming.”

The mattress bends beneath Skip’s weight as he plops down at the foot of Don’s bed. He’s pouting without an ounce of shame, despite the fact that he is a twenty-two year old man with all the excess energy of a five year old.

Don lifts his head from his pillow, raising an eyebrow. His friend still looks expectant, as if Don will change his mind at any moment.

“I don’t think the hotel even keeps the pool open this late.”

“So?” demands Skip, undeterred. “It’s a hotel. It’s their job to cater to us! They’ll let us in if we want to go in.”

“Hotels don’t work that way, Skipper.”

“They _could.”_

Even Skip seems to realize the futility of what he’s arguing. He flops backwards on the bed, frowning up at the pale ceiling. The entire way here, he’d been babbling about getting to stay in a suite. Instead of a suite, they’d been stuck in a cramped two-bed room just like all the rest of the team. Skip’s dismay had been palpable from the moment he stepped through the doorway (not even rooming with his best friend could soothe him) and he’d made up for it by being chock full of energy all night.

Running wild through the hotel with Skip was fun at first – but now it’s almost midnight, Don is tired, and his friend doesn’t seem to care.

When he sits up again, pouting, Don knows what’s coming. He turns his head, unwilling to look, but Skip leans closer anyway. He climbs on top of Don, pressing his face inches away from his own, until his heavy breathing is warm against the skin of Don’s cheek.

“Stop,” Don mutters, twisting beneath Skip’s weight. He unwillingly ends up staring his friend in the face, and is paralyzed by the expression there.

“Come on,” Skip prompts after a few painful seconds. “You can’t say no to the puppy eyes. You know you can’t…”

Don wonders if this was how Skip got out of trouble for swimming the Niagara, along with the boatload of other wild things he comes up with. He really does have a pair of eyes that could knock the anger out of a rampaging bear. It’s impossible not to give in when Skip’s looking at him like that.

“Fine,” Don grumbles, hauling himself out of bed.

* * *

 

The hotel pool is closed.

This does not stop them.

Don plunges beneath the water, and the massive splash a second later tells him that Skip has joined him. He emerges first, immediately being enveloped by the warm summer night. Not two seconds later, Skip breaks the surface, gasping a lungful of air. He shakes his head, sending a shower of droplets flying towards Don’s face.

“Hey, watch it!”

“Sorry,” Skip replies, grinning without an ounce of remorse. His bangs are dripping into his eyes, skin glistening with wetness. He looks thrilled with himself. Don rolls his eyes, and aims a splash that leaves Skip sputtering and laughing out loud. Before he can reciprocate, he ducks under the water and rockets away.

He’s no bad swimmer, but Skip is much faster. He catches up in seconds, and their quiet night swim turns into a cacophony of splashing and shouting. Don gets a mouthful of chlorine; Skip is engulfed by a man-made tidal wave.

By the time they’re both panting for breath, they look like half-drowned rats. “We’re gonna get kicked out,” Don says, doubled over in a fit of laughter. “Oh my god, the hotel’s gonna toss us on our asses.”

“It’ll be amazing,” Skip cackles, tossing the hair out of his eyes. “This is freakin’ awesome!”

“Who else would be crazy enough to do this with you?” Don demands, slipping up against Skip’s side until their slick shoulders are pressed against each other. The question is rhetorical – he knows Penk is too levelheaded to do this, Blithe is too cautious, Luz too reckless. There’s no one he’d rather sneak out to the pool with than Skip.

He has a brief flash of hope that Skip feels the same way before his friend turns to him, still laughing, and exclaims, “That’s why I love you!”

At one, everything shrieks to a halt.

Skip’s eyes are wide. He looks as stunned as Don feels, which is saying a lot, because Don’s heart feels ready to burst out of his chest. He couldn’t have heard that right – Skip didn’t just say that, did he?

“You –” Don gapes, as his friend takes a stumbling step back and nearly topples into the water.

“Did I just say that out loud?”

Skip is still trying to get away, looking like he’s just seen a ghost. Don reaches out and catches his arm before he can escape, forcing him to stop. “Yeah,” he exclaims, “yeah, you did. Skip, hang on – did you mean that?”

Skip pauses a beat too long before giving a peal of laughter. “Of course! You’re my buddy, you know? My best friend!”

“You didn’t say that.”

“I said –”

“You said you loved me,” Don repeats, even though there’s no need; they’re both painfully aware of just what Skip said. The man in front of him flinches, cringing, and turns away as if not looking at Don can enable him to escape the entire conversation. “Skip,” Don persists, reaching out and catching his chin. Gentle as a brush of lips, he guides Skip’s face back to his.

Green eyes meet Don’s intent brown ones reluctantly, but when their gazes lock neither can pull away. Skip exhales a shaky sigh, the water rippling around him as he moves forward.

“I said I love you,” he says, stopping just inches away from Don, “because I do. Or, at least, I’m pretty sure I do. I’ve never said anything, just because, you know the opportunity hasn’t been there, I didn’t wanna make things weird, but if you think I shouldn’t –”

Don cuts his rambling off by leaning in and capturing Skip’s still-moving mouth with his own. The tail-end of his ramblings are swallowed up by Don’s lips. Skip is only frozen for a second before he gives himself up to the kiss, looping his arms around the other man’s neck.

The moment is unexpected, it is perfect, and it is the best ending to a wild night that Don could imagine.

 _Yeah,_ he decides. _There’s no one better to be with than Skip._


End file.
